Guwahati: Rajib Dhar of Netaji Vidyapith Railway Higher Secondary School (Maligaon), Trailokya Nanda of Edith Douglas School (Jorhat), Sanjoy Singh of DAV Public School (Imphal) and Parikshit Upadhyaya of Mahairishi Vidya Mandir (Guwahati) were leading with five points apiece after Round 5 in The Telegraph Schools’ Chess Championship on Thursday.

The way the 12-year-old Parikshit, seeded 86, outplayed No. 4 Priyangshu Saikia of Dopani High School (Sivasagar) in all departments of the Sicilian Pelican attested the prediction that he would finish among top five to qualify for the Calcutta finals.

Rajib, with a Fide rating of 2135, had to fight to defeat Rajkumar Sriranjan Singha of Maria’s Public School (Guwahati).

Playing black, tenth seed Nirmal Jyoti Sarmah of Disney Land School (Guwahati) faced Trailokya, who has a Fide rating of 2026. It was a close affair from a Sicicilian Najdorf set-up, but Nirmal could not withstand the piece play of his opponent.

The nine-year-old Sanjoy seems well set to clinch the title again, after 2001 and 2002. Employing the Sicilian Scheveningen Sanjoy thumped Jintumone Rajkhowa of Kendirya Vidyalaya in just 20 moves.

Among the girls, only Roshni Ravindran of Mahirishi Vidya Mandir (Guwahti) is near the leaders with four points.

ROUND V RESULTS

Rajkumar (4) lost to Rajib (5); Trailokya (5) bt Nirmal Jyoti (4); Jintumone (4) lost to Sanjoy (5); Priyangshu (4) lost to Parkshit (5); Lal Chhandama (4.5) bt Mantu Hatimuria (3.5); Regan Singh lost to N. Dhaneshor (4.5); Subhajit Dhar (4) bt Zonunmawii; Ashim Dutta (3) lost to L. Shakespeare (4); Rakesh Chakravorty (3) lost to Jintu Singha (4); Sasanka Kishore (3) lost to Roshni (4); Ch. Birbal (4) bt Sidharta Gogoi (3); Kaushik Baruah (3) lost to Durlov (4).